I’m not referring to the Star Spangled Banner. Americans can mangle that to their heart’s content. No, what I’m referring to is the rendition, if it can even be called that, sung in Denver, Colorado over the weekend, prior to the international Rugby League match between England and New Zealand.
The singer, Crystal Collins, started by singing a shaky version of God Save The Queen, but when she attempted Aotearoa / God Defend New Zealand, not only did she horribly mangle the words and timing of the first verse in Māori, she didn’t do any better with the verse in English, where she was completely out of sync with the backing music, and even at times seemed to be singing to the tune of Good King Wenceslas!
What a way to insult a nation! It would have been much more respectful to have simply played a pre-recorded orchestral version than allowing Crystal Collins to get behind the microphone.
Unfortunately, I’m not able to locate a video that I can embed in this post, so the best I can do is provide a link. If you’re American, be prepared to be suitably embarrassed: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-24/singer-delivers-interesting-rendition-of-nz/9903662. You could use that to demonstrate how not to win friends and influence people.
Once you’ve recovered from that, you might like to see how it should be rendered:
Another Spectrum 
25 Jun, 2018 at 12:13 am
It sounds like she got her melody confused with Good King Wenceslas and decided no key was suitable. I’ve heard other national anthems mangled by American singers at sporting events but this example I think stands well above the rest.
26 Jun, 2018 at 12:19 am
Imagine the uproar if a foreign country mangled The Star Spangled Banner like that. Trump would likely order a drone strike on the offending singer 🙂
25 Jun, 2018 at 6:59 pm
I don’t know whether she sings great or your national anthem is beautiful. Here I have been thinking we have the sweetest sounding national anthem.
26 Jun, 2018 at 12:15 am
Both 🙂
Hayley Westenra makes any song sound beautiful:
To be truthful many Kiwis dislike our national anthem as too often it can sound like a hymn or a dirge, especially in mass singing. However it’s a tune that lends itself to many musical styles, and frequently does. Here’s a version sung by a primary school choir:
The song had been around for decades before it was adopted firstly as a national song and then finally as the national anthem in the 1970s.
On the other hand the Kenyan National Anthem is is absolutely stunning.